1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a laser apparatus.
2. Related Art
With a conventional semiconductor laser module, a lensed fiber formed by performing lens processing on the top of an optical fiber is used to focus light output from a semiconductor laser element, and this light is propagated to the outside of the semiconductor laser module through the optical fiber, as shown in Patent Document 1, for example.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-235638
However, when such a semiconductor laser module is driven by a relatively low drive current near a threshold value, single mode oscillation begins. When the drive current is increased, the oscillation results in unstable output light that mixes single mode and multimode oscillation. When the drive current is further increased, multimode oscillation is realized and the output light stabilizes. Accordingly, the semiconductor laser module requires use of a drive current that is in a range greater than or equal to a predetermined current value that enables stable multimode oscillation.